Lance Stephenson | Guard/Forward | #5

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The Pelicans have officially waived Lance Stephenson (groin).

He's going to be sidelined for 6-10 weeks after he undergoes surgery on his groin, but the Pelicans will assist him with his rehab. The team waived him in order to clear up a roster spot for Archie Goodwin, but Marc Stein of ESPN reported that they are open to re-signing him once he's healthy. Nov 7 - 12:50 PM

Lance Stephenson will undergo surgery on his groin and is expected to be sidelined for 6-10 weeks.

The Pelicans are planning on waiving Stephenson to make room for Archie Goodwin. He averaged 9.7 points and 4.8 rebounds in six games with the Pelicans, and hopefully another NBA team will give him a chance once he's healthy again. This timetable means he could return to the court prior to Christmas, but that's pushing it. Nov 7 - 9:39 AM

The Pelicans plan on waiving Lance Stephenson to make room for Archie Goodwin, per Shams Charania of the Vertical.

Stephenson needs surgery and will be on the shelf for a long time, but ESPN's Marc Stein reports that New Orleans is still weighing their options. Stephenson is averaging 9.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists in 27 minutes per game, but once healthy he'll need an ideal situation to duplicate those numbers. Nov 6 - 8:36 PM

Lance Stephenson's (groin surgery) timetable is expected to be measured in "weeks, and not days," according to Justin Verrier of ESPN.

Well yeah, he's going to require surgery, so obviously he's not getting back to the court any time soon. He's currently listed as "out indefinitely," and it'll be Solomon Hill, Buddy Hield and E'Twaun Moore all trying to pick up the slack with Jrue Holiday (personal) and Tyreke Evans (knee) also with uncertain timetables to return to the court. Nov 6 - 5:34 PM

Depth Charts

No revenge game for Jrue against his former team. Holiday's turf toe injury can linger, so the Pelicans will play it safe. His injury history also may have factored into this because compensating could lead to another injury. With Jrue out, Tim Frazier should start while Langston Galloway gets additional run at the point. Buddy Hield should pick up extra minutes, as well.

That's his second straight DNP. With Moore out, Buddy Hield should get more run at shooting guard while Langston Galloway and Tim Frazier could run some two-guard combos. Plus, this should help Solomon Hill pick up extra run at the three to help offset the loss of wing depth.

Tyreke Evans (knee, calf) is expected to stay behind for the upcoming two-game road trip to rehab his calf injury, according ton Jen Hale of the Pelicans broadcast.

The good news is that his right knee is good to go. Evans is going to have a limit upon his return and he still doesn't have a target date. It may a month or so until we see Evans putting up noteworthy numbers, so he's not the greatest stash in shallower leagues. He's also very likely to rest on back-to-back sets for a long time.

Quincy Pondexter (knee surgeries) is still not close to getting back on the court.

"Quincy’s probably going to take a little bit longer than [Tyreke Evans to return]," Pelicans' GM Dell Demps said. "We’ll get a better determination on Quincy probably in about two weeks." With Evans' looking at a potential December return, it sounds like Pondexter might not get back to the court until sometime in January. He doesn't offer enough upside to warrant a hold in any setting.

Dante Cunningham (knee) has been diagnosed with a non-displaced right proximal fibula fracture and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks.

The Pelicans said he wasn't expected to miss much time, but they didn't know Cunningham suffered a fracture from banging knees on Wednesday. Cunningham's playing time as a starter was trending up with around 30 minutes per game recently -- he does only have a 12.0 usage rate this year. While he was out on Wednesday, Solomon Hill started the second half and is likely to be starting going forward. They also used a lot of three-guard lineups with Jrue Holiday, Tim Frazier and Langston Galloway. Frazier should be owned in standard leagues, Galloway is a short-term pickup for 14-team leagues and Hill is worth a look for owners with something to cut in deeper leagues.